ToST II - Part 6

The long ride to Surat Thani...

We've decided that from the night before, we're gonna get up a bit later than the usual.
From Khanom, we have roughly around 87km to cover.
Instead of heading back to the 401 intersection by backtracking, we proceeded straight to Donsak town, which is basically a port area to ferry people and vehicles from the mainland to Ko Samui.
This is basically a 35km detour to the North of the district.

An early day in Khanom

Brown rice porridge

Even at 7am in the morning, the sky was already bright.
We rode towards the Southern side of town and found a weekend market where we had breakfast.
To my surprise, a bowl of brown porridge with pork costs b25. 
This is by far, the cheapest breakfast I had in Thailand.
We decided that it was best to move on towards Donsak.
No time was wasted on this journey and since most of the parts here are unknown, I realized that the terrain was hilly and undulating.
By late morning, we reached Donsak.
The gang re-grouped at a petrol station before moving on.
Michelle wanted a place to hangout for coffee and we found one across the road on route 4142.
We chilled out at the coffee shop just in time when it rained heavily...

Excellent pad thai! 

A friendly Myna..

It turned out that the place that we had coffee was a motel.
Rooms are available here and as we chilled out, we realized that the road we were traveling on was a long and hilly route connecting to highway 401.
After a good cup of coffee and a plate of excellent pad thai, we rode out towards the 401 intersection.
This ride, as short as it seems (approximately 10km or less), was utterly boring.
We saw a lot of plantation on both sides of the road, on certain occasion, some houses and roadside stalls. But that was it.

Coming out of route 4142

With every crank on the pedal, we gained some extra miles.
It was a sigh of relief when we hit the 401 intersection to Surat Thani.
We've covered more than 50km so far and there's another 37-odd kilometres to go before we hit Surat Thani town.
And the sight of the PTT petrol station with an Amazon cafe was something that really made our day.
Iced-cold coffee and free WiFi are served here!
We parked our bikes in front of the cafe and enjoyed their good coffee and one thing that kept us coming back for more is the fact that the drinks are cheap!

Thailand's Amazon cafe is a landmark for touring bicyclists to chill out

"Aaaaahh.. iced-coffee!!!!!"

We had time to recover from the ride from Donsak and the utterly boring route 4142 to ride the remaining distance to Surat Thani.
This time round, the Sun is out in its full glory and the only thing on our mind, is to get a nice place to bunk and also to find the town's bus station.

Into the unknown..

We rode on the 401, steadily and half-way through, I can see Sin who was holding back. 
I gestured for him to overtake and that was it, he rode like a bat out of hell!
He was far ahead and its just common sense to wait up if you are way too far from your pack.
Sin was waiting at a local food stall. 
It was situated next to a factory and I can see people eating their lunch there.
Roger had his sugar rush with a bottle of Coke, and while Sin was having his preserved vegetable soup with rice, I took notice at what the kitchen has to offer: fried frog!

The minimalist: Sin's full load

Catch of the day: A table-sized bull frog

My sumptous lunch!

What I like about eating at places like a roadside stall in Thailand is the fact that its cheap and good!
Michelle had some fried rice, mine came last and it was very good!
And the total bill came up to b290 which is not bad in terms of pricing -- when you factor in four people's meal including drinks.
We knew that there was ample time to move on towards Surat Thani and kept on going. Not too far in the horizon, was the Krabi junction.
We took some pictures near a road sign before losing sight of Sin again...

Half-way to Bangkok..

At the outskirts of Surat Thani

Civilization is indicated with the presence of traffic lights..

In Surat Thani, we have two choices: Take the train or stage bus back to Hat Yai.
Now, we knew very little about the train schedule and fare.
My best guess was the wooden stage coaches that stops everywhere. And it takes the whole day to get there.
Our best bet, is the stage bus service.
But before we could do so, we must locate the bus station in Surat Thani.
I've never been to this town, so, we depended entirely on the trusty Garmin EDGE800 GPS.
Slowly, but surely, we inched closer towards the town area.
By 02:45pm, we reached the outskirts of Surat Thani..

Surat Thani at last!

Search for the bus station...

My GPS indicated that the bus station is about 6km from our present location.
We rode slowly into town, taking a ride into the suburb areas and along the way, I can see the town's municipal stadium and when we arrived at an intersection, traffic was diverted due to a festival procession. It was full-moon and some big party was going on...

The horrible mid-day traffic

Sin and a float procession

Dressed for the occasion: the float parade participants

The heat, traffic congestion, getting lost and exhaustion got to me.
At this point, it was a mind game.
There were no tell-tale sign on where the bus station is located as we moved away from the city limits.
I noticed a large shopping mall at the horizon and the map on my EDGE800 indicates that the station is within proximity.
We went in a large circle before re-joining the main road and to my relief, there was a signboard in English that says: "Bus Station 800 metres".
This place was located at the edge of the city and we were relieved to have found it.
Roger went to an information counter to ask.
He was told that there is a stage bus that leaves Surat Thani at 08:30am.
We took no chances and went on searching for a place to bunk in.
At this point, the choices are either a cheap motel, or an apartment.
But I don't think we will score a large boarding facility.
So, we rode back towards town and noticed an advertisement place by the roadside.
It showed a motel at b240 a night. And there's free WiFi thrown in.
This is too good to be true and we checked it out.
By the time we got there, it was too far from the junction leading to the bus station.
We settled for a motel at a slightly higher price.
There was the Isan resort at b450 a night with WiFi thrown-in. One couldn't have asked for more! 
So, that's where we settled-in for the day...

ToST II - Part 5

The scenic route to Khanom..

On route 401 towards Surat Thani

Excellent road conditions

We rolled out of Sichon after a good fill at the Prasansuk villa's restaurant.
The meal of the day was bacon and eggs.
To re-join route 401, we had to roll across route 3017 and 4015.
Basically, its a quiet countryside route and we have roughly about 53km to cover to reach Khanom.
Over the past two days, the weather has been good.
But on this particular day, dark clouds were looming across the horizon.
As long as we could take shelter, there's no issue about getting wet.
We pushed on as far as we could and thinking that the terrain was undulating, Roger did warn us about the climbs.
But luck has it in such a way that the route was rather flat as we rode around the mountains.

Rigging up the gear with the rain in the background

A photo session at the outskirts of Khanom

And here it comes! 

The sky opened up with drops of water coming down.
We were reaching the Surat Thani - Khanom junction on the 401 when it poured.
I signaled to pull over and found a nice place to take shelter from the rain.
Roger, who was up front, saw a coffee shop and told us to move our bikes forward...

Late breakfast: green curry with stewed pork and egg

Taking shelter with good food and excellent coffee

Chilling out!

Roger and Sin with the awesome Thai dish

We saw some locals having their meals. 
One particular noodle dish caught our fancy and Sin, who is a food blogger, wasted no time in ordering his pick.
The noodles was excellent.
I saw some hot rice and ordered a plate with stewed pork. It was a bliss! 
What I like about Thai fragrant rice is the fact that its fresh and you can eat it on its own!
Time flies as we waited for the rain to stop.
Khanom is roughly about 20km away from the junction and as far as distance was concerned, we've covered plenty of ground...

The beach..

I've never been to Khanom.
And from Roger's description, I had imagined it to be like "The Beach" starring Leonardo Di Caprio.
From the junction, there is a short distance to cover.
Our choice accommodation was a motel costing b490 a night.
It was called the Panita Resort.

Riding on the wet road

Forward to Khanom

The gang..

Nadan Beach

We drew closer and closer to Khanom by mid-day.
Since we had double breakfast near the junction, none of us were hungry.
At a junction near the town area, we found a route to the beach.
There was a nice resort at the end of it and our mission for the day, was to locate the b490 resort.
So, Roger chanced on taking the right turn towards Khanom Seafood restaurant,which was about 7km away.
We thought of having dinner at this place by staying near the beach, but the situation had proven otherwise.
Bit-by-bit, we covered more than 7km and hit the end of the beach area, which was a hilly place.
And right there, Khanom Seafood restaurant stood still. A really nice and classy place.
It was about 11:45am. 
We placed our bikes and sat at a table. The guys ordered some carbonated drinks while I oogle at the live blue crabs in the tank.

As fresh as they can get!

Our grill master working his magic!

Fresh off the grill!

These made our day!

There was free WiFi at the restaurant and we took full advantage of it.
I ordered one kilogramme of live blue crabs (b450 per kg) and while we quenched down our thirst with the Colas, the crabs were slowly cooking on the grill.
It was really fantastic and worth the effort having our early lunch at the restaurant.
Our total bill came up to b750 (crabs and steamed cockles with a busload of EST colas).
Not a moment of regret here as we slowly rolled back to town to find the b490 motel.

The hilly terrain leading back to Khanom town

Over the last two days, my bike was kinda misbehaving itself.
The bottom bracket was making a lot of noise. 
In times like these, one has to be really patient. The issue did not hamper our journey as we slowly moved on..

Another puncture..

Fixing Sin's flat tire

We were approaching the final kilometre before the junction to town when Sin had suddenly shouted out.
After pulling over to the road side, his front tire was flat.
We moved the bike to hut by the roadside and tried to find the source of the puncture.
After peeling off the inner tube, I found a bump on the tire.
It was cut by a piece of beer bottle's glass.
We had the shard removed and put in a new inner tube.
Then, I found out that the direction of the tire thread on Sin's front tire was on the opposite direction.
It took us about 35-minutes to fix this problem before we moved on..

Panita resort in Khanom

The cosy motel

Panita resort, brand new and very impressive...

There's really nothing much to see in Khanom town.
We rode past the junction where we came in and down the road about two kilometres away, there was a signboard.
The motel that we were looking for was smack in the middle of town.
Its barely a week old and after some negotiation, Roger managed to get it for us at b450 per night.
We were happy to oblige by checking-in.

Night shopping

A simple dinner

We had ample time to do some laundry as well as cleaning up the bikes.
The motel had ample space for us to dry up our dirty clothes.
Later in the evening, we rode into town for dinner.
We found a makan stall by the roadside and enjoyed a good meal.
It was my turn to get the beers, so, I bought four bottles of Singha beer from Tesco Lotus and Sin sponsored some mini sausages manufactured by CP foods, one of Thailand's largest producer of processed food items.
We recapped the day's experience and called it a day for the long ride to Surat Thani..

ToST II - Part 4

Light and easy in Sichon...

We checked-in at the Prasansuk villa resort.
Nice place to chill out and definitely a good choice considering that its a full-fledged resort below RM100 per night.
I got to work right away with the punctured rear tire on Michelle's Dahon Speed TR.
Seems that the patch on the tube was leaking. So, a replacement tube was in order.
It took little effort to inflate the tire with the Speed TR's seatpost pump. 
Once the matter was resolved, we made plans to check out Sichon's town square.

The nice beach area in Sichon

Our termite-infested chalet

A friendly pooch

Michelle, taking a breather..

With the little daylight that was left, we did our daily laundry chores.
The clothes needs to be washed and dried before we could pack them for the journey.
Later in the day, we rode out towards town.
There was a nice lookout point overseeing the river with vessels heading out to the sea to prepare for the catch of the day.
Basically, its a 3km roll from the Prasansuk resort to town.
We were told by a local to find a Mukata (BBQ house) and set out to do so.

The cosy resort in Sichon

Boats heading out to sea

Dinner at the Mukata restaurant

Sin and a local policeman

Don't expect too much...

Sichon is basically a seaside town where the economy is based entirely on fisheries and aquaculture.

Roger said much of the local industry depends heavily on shrimp breeding.

We rode into town and found a flurry of activities.

There was a night market and no Mukata join in sight.

Since its a local eatery, the best person to ask -- is the local cop.

We found a policeman and asked for directions. He pointed out that the restaurant is away from the town's market.

It took us a while to locate it and when we finally found the place, we went down to the makan part.

Since we've experienced Mukata in Ranot on ToST I, it became the benchmark in terms of pricing and quality.

In Sichon, we were disappointed.

Nevertheless, we got over this quick and proceeded back to the resort to get some much deserved rest.

Breakfast

Saying goodbye to our furry friend.

At the resort, we worked out the expenses. 

Sin was busy uploading his photos onto his Facebook account.

He has a big following and the live streaming was part of the highlight.

We caught some shuteye and gathered at the resort's cafe for their complimentary breakfast the next morning.

The journey to Khanom is roughly about 45km. 

Rolling out of Sichon

A nice detour on the country road

Re-joining route 401

So far, we've done pretty okay from Nakhon to Sichon.

Khanom is said to be a place that is favoured by Western travelers.

This unspoiled haven is something that I was looking forward to..